Individual Awards
APPA Fellow
Designation as an APPA Fellow recognizes individuals for their significant contributions to the field of Educational Facilities Management and who are considered by their peers in the industry as a person of excellence. While most APPA awards recognize past achievements, the APPA Fellow designation brings with it both recognition for specific accomplishments to date, including advancement of the body of knowledge of educational facilities management through research, discovery, and innovation, and expectations for continued involvement in APPA leadership through service and research, coaching and mentoring.
List of APPA Fellows award recipients
NOTE: The submission and approval process for the APPA Fellow award is currently being updated by the APPA Board. Submissions are temporarily suspended during this review.
Meritorious Service Award
Each year, APPA members bestow the Meritorious Service Award upon the individual member or members who have made significant, life-long contributions to the profession of educational facilities management. The Meritorious Service Award is APPA’s highest award for individual service, and is given to no more than three individuals each year.
Eligibility Requirements
The Meritorious Service Award is open to any APPA Individual member in good standing through applying and accepting the award.
To be eligible for the Meritorious Service Award, nominees must meet the following criteria:
- Be an employee of an active APPA member institution for ten consecutive years. (NOTE: Institution must be currently in good standing.)
- Active participation in meetings and other functions at the international level.
- Service at the international APPA level (i.e. Board member, committee/group member, dean/trainer/facilitator within professional development [though not a current APPA board member]);
- Service at the regional or chapter level (i.e. board, committee, meeting host); and/or service to an associated professional organization whose primary purpose is the betterment of facilities management operations at colleges and universities.
- Past recipients can be nominated after ten years of service following their first Meritorious Service Award.
Nominations for the 2026 awards cycle will open December 1, 2025.
List of Meritorious Service award recipients
Pacesetter Award
The Pacesetter Award premise is to encourage participation in APPA among those who have already made significant contributions to their regions or chapters. Up to seven Pacesetter Awards may be given each year.
Eligibility Requirements
The Pacesetter Award is open to any APPA Individual member in good standing through applying and accepting the award.
To be eligible for the Pacesetter Award, nominees must meet the following criteria:
- Active member of APPA for a minimum of three years.
- Active member of their respective chapter/region for at least three years.
- Active participation/contributions/accomplishments in regional/chapter meetings and/or other functions of APPA. For example:
– Leadership in the region (i.e. service on a board, hosting a meeting/conference)
– Leadership in the chapter (i.e. service on a board, hosting a meeting/conference)
– Leadership on a host committee (i.e. host committee chair position)
– Leadership in professional development (organized or hosted local/regional/international APPA events, prepared chapter/regional/international APPA educational sessions)
– Leadership in advancing the organization (assisted with promotion/marketing activities or coordinated membership drives)
– Authored articles in regional/chapter/national newsletters, the Body of Knowledge (BOK), authored a book, etc.
– Served as a regional liaison to APPA
– Participated in code advocacy-related activities or served on the APPA Standards & Codes Council.
– Liaison to APPA Board, Work Group, or Task Force
– Other voluntary contributions of time, effort, resources, and leadership abilities to promote and enhance APPA and the educational facilities management profession. - Past recipients cannot be nominated again.
Nominations for the 2026 awards cycle will open December 1, 2025.
List of Pacesetter award recipients
Rex Dillow Award for Outstanding Article
The Rex Dillow Award is presented to the author or authors of the best article published in Facilities Manager magazine during the previous year. Recipients are selected by a review committee comprising a member representative from each APPA region.
Eligible articles are those written by a full-time employee from any department of an APPA member institution. In addition, articles written by APPA Members Emeritus who are not affiliated with a business partner firm may be eligible for award consideration. If an article has more than one listed author, all authors must be full-time employees of an APPA member institution or a Member Emeritus to be eligible for the award. Eligible institutions must be Institutional or Affiliate members at the time of publication.
Selection Guidelines
APPA administers the Rex Dillow Award with designated reviewer representatives, who assess each of the eligible articles based on the following five categories:
- Content: the degree to which the article adds to the body of knowledge of the facilities profession through new information, a new perspective on existing information or techniques, or case studies.
- Interest: the degree to which the article addresses current topics or stimulates interest through its methods of expression.
- Readability: the degree to which the article conforms to the style and format of the magazine, uses easily understood words and phrases, and provides a logical structure.
- Applicability: the appeal and value of the article’s content to a broad range of educational facilities and other institutions.
- Ease of editing: reflects the time and effort required by the magazine editor to prepare the submitted article for publication.
Each category is given equal weight in its contribution to the article’s overall rating.
Nominations for the 2026 awards cycle will open December 1, 2025.